Loyola Marymount University and Loyola Law School
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Honors Thesis
Honors Program
5-5-2016
The Highway to Hell in the City of Angels: The
Automobile and its Role in Influencing the
Transportation Infrastructure of Post-World War II
Los Angeles
William Ronald Rehbock
Loyola Marymount University, [email protected]
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Infrastructure of Post-World War II Los Angeles" (2016). Honors Thesis. 129.
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The Highway to Hell in the City of Angels:
The Automobile and its Role in Influencing
the Transportation Infrastructure of PostWorld War II Los Angeles
A thesis submitted in partial satisfaction
of the requirements of the University Honors Program
of Loyola Marymount University
by
William Rehbock
5 May, 2016
Rehbock 1
Introduction
LA has historically been a motoring city for reasons greater than mere interest in
automotive style or conveying status. In this way, many Angelinos epitomize the American
desire to be an individual, with all of the freedom and liberty that accompanies living the
capitalistic ideal. Los Angeles’ infrastructure grew as a result of the optimism and wealth that
accompanied the period immediately following World War II, and much of the existing roads
follow a lineage back to this period. Los Angeles has earned a negative reputation as a result of
its infamous freeway system, which serves as the existing scheme for mass transportation.
Despite general frustration with the unfeasibility of this structure, the public’s dissatisfaction has
yielded negligible action on the part of the city. Many still yearn for individualized
transportation, as evinced in Tesla’s recent popularity, both in terms of its revolutionary electric
drive systems and advances in autonomous drive. Some seek working mass transit, invoking the
London Underground, the Chicago L, or New York’s subway system as evidence that large
Western cities can and do have viable alternatives to the automobile. The city’s masses still
prefer private and personal transportation in the form of the car, whether fueled by gasoline,
diesel, electricity, or hydrogen. Meanwhile, the LA Metro is renewing its efforts to gain and
maintain customers, whether they ride the train or bus, or pay for FasTrak to use Metro
Expresslanes. Both the public and the transportation authority continually fail to make
meaningful movements toward fixing a system that is universally understood as being broken.
My research was guided by the following questions: To what extent have the promise of
freedom and individuality associated with the automobile in Los Angeles since World War II and
Rehbock 2
the open road influenced their popularity among the masses? To what extent has this popularity
influenced the way people have chosen to travel in a city as Los Angeles, home to the television
and film industries, which is known globally for its obsession with image, freedom, and
individuality? What other factors played a role in the way the car came to be the dominant mode
of transportation in Los Angeles and why does this continue to be the way that people move
around the city? What are the implications of this research and how can my work be used as Los
Angeles seeks to find new ways to move its residents around the city more efficiently in the
twenty-first century?
To answer these questions I initially turned to Los Angeles Times newspaper articles from
the Cold War period. These articles give a great deal of insight to both the reason LA’s freeway
organization is the dominant form of transportation and also offer insight into the problems the
public has with the system as well. I also applied the work of Proust, Matisse, and the Futurists
to establish a theoretical foundation for the study of the automobile as a symbol of speed,
independence, individuality and progress. Early thinkers and artists first encountering cars in
Europe also gave greater insight about how motoring was received in its early age and serve as a
comparative lens for the way the car is viewed by the public in the twenty-first century.
Additionally, advertisements for both automobiles and for mass transit is informative about the
techniques automakers and the LA Metro use to appeal to consumers in order to get them to use
their services. Additionally secondary sources in the forms of history textbooks, scholarly
articles, and contemporary websites provide greater historical context for the primary sources.
Through an analysis of the history of motoring and the Los Angeles transportation
system, I argue that Angelinos continue to utilize the car as their primary mode of mobilization
because it synthesizes longstanding ideals of freedom, individuality, and escape with the
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practicalities of convenience and immediacy. However, the automobile has ultimately failed to
deliver on these promises and while the industry is constantly seeking to reinvent the car to
sustain its use for posterity, and Los Angeles must turn to a working public transportation system
that both fulfills its residents’ practical needs of convenience and immediacy while
simultaneously offering an experience of utmost autonomy for those using its system. All the
while, LA must take into accounts the needs of the racially and economically marginalized in
order to offer this experience to every living in the city.
Chapter 1: Early Motoring – Infrastructure, Theory, and Design
Los Angeles was founded in 1781 and developed in earnest during the California gold
rush, but Wilshire Boulevard became a major thoroughfare essential to mass transportation of
people and goods as early as the 1900.1 This period gave birth to many of the Angelino motoring
institutions known today such as the Automobile Club of Southern California, which is now
known as the American Auto Association or AAA.
By 1920, the Wilshire Boulevard Center was developed to become the “world’s first
linear shopping center,” and with this Los Angeles officially came into its own as a motoring
city.2 One of the elements that made Wilshire Boulevard so advanced for its time was the
inclusion of parking lots behind the shops. A.W. Ross, the developer responsible for this stage of
the boulevard’s growth, mandated that parking lots be placed behind the stores to make the shop
fronts more accessible to those on the street. These examples from Los Angeles’ early
development, suggest that significant of the urban planning occurred not as a result of
1
Peterson Automotive Museum. History/Industry/Artistry: The Peterson Automotive Museum. South Korea,
Peterson Automotive Museum, 2015, 10.
2
Ibid, 11.
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government legislation, but instead as the result of private parties utilizing their power and
wealth to accomplish their goals.
As it stands today, Los Angeles represents the accumulation of over a hundred years of
automotive tradition. This legacy is the result of an association of the automobile with the ideals
of speed, freedom, and progress, associations that cannot not hold up in the congestion of LA’s
urban sprawl. Before the roads were overloaded with drivers, however, the automobile
revolutionized individual transportation because of the speed and efficiency with which a
motorized carriage could travel. According to Brian Ladd, author of Autophobia, an automotive
writer acknowledged in 1902 that “in time the intoxication of the rapid motion of the automobile
will be found in the opportunity that it gives to enjoy fresh air, change of scene and the beauties
of nature, with the sense of freedom and independence that cannot be enjoyed in railroad
trains.”3 This anonymous reviewer’s insight has stood the test of time; even though the values of
“rapid motion” never truly lost their appeal to commuters, the automobile still promises escape
and freedom from an urban landscape. Wealthy consumers were the primary owners of the
automobile at the turn of the century. Ladd writes, “In 1900 car owners were almost by definition
wealthy, especially since they often employed chauffeurs,” many wouldn’t have dreamed of
trying to operate their own vehicles.”4 This emphasizes the image of status with which the
automobile has carried into the future. Owners of automobiles in the current period, while they
largely operate their own vehicles, still benefit from the freedom that personal transportation
offers. In this early period, the automobile experienced a great degree of resistance, both in
Europe and the United States. In the latter nation, “Farmers near Sacramento, California, dug
3
4
Ladd, Brian. Autophobia. (University of Chicago Press; Chicago and London, 2008), 16.
Ibid, 17.
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ditches across roads in 1909 and actually trapped thirteen cars.”5 This resistance demonstrates
that the transition to the standardization of the automobile an instantaneous process, but once
automakers refined their products, the automobile eventually won the hearts of motorists around
the world. Ads such as this flier promoting the Bentley drop-head Coupe promote the exclusivity
and class an automobile offers.i It portrays two elite women in the countryside, adorned in the
style of the era, backgrounded by a dramatic range of mountains. This ad conveys the notion
freedom and escape consumers would come to associate with the automobile, in addition to the
practicality that has caused “millions of people across the world [who] have come to see it as a
necessity,” Angelinos included.”6 This being said, many members of the elite classes still
resisted the popularization of the automobile, as they expressed fears of the corruption of nature
or the harm that would come to the established mode of transportation, horses.7 When the racket
of the engine was quieted down after “mufflers became obligatory” in the Edwardian Era, a
wider audience began to accept the automobile as an acceptable facet of everyday life. 8
Wealthy consumers were not the only group who saw this value in the car and were not
the only people enamored with this new invention, however. Additionally, some contingents of
artists embraced the machine the epitome of beauty, especially since it was seen as a luxury item.
Members of the artistic community such as Proust and Matisse viewed the windshield of the
automobile as a lens through which their art was expressed, whether through writing or painting.9
The most notable artists to do so were the Futurists, whose member Filippo Tommaso Marinetti
proclaimed the superior beauty of the motorcar.10 He writes that “a racing car whose hood is
5
Ibid, 24.
Ibid, 16.
7
Ibid, 16-21.
8
Ibid, 17.
9
Danius, Sara, “The Aesthetics of the Windshield: Proust and the Modernist Rhetoric of Speed,”
Modernism/Modernity, Vol. 8, No. 1 (2001), 99-126.
10
Ibid, 113.
6
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adorned with great pipes, like serpents of explosive breath – a roaring car that seems to ride on
grapeshot is more beautiful than the Victory of Samothrace,” demonstrates artists were utilizing
the aesthetic of speed in their work to get at something greater.11 The ability to go fast and make
the surrounding world a blur is empowering for anyone behind the wheel, and it also conveys the
same sense of power and independence that the rest of “Futurist Manifesto.” This can be seen in
the fifth tenet, where Marinetti writes, “We want to hymn the man at the wheel, who hurls the
lance of his spirit across the Earth, along the circle of its orbit,” indicating that individuals may
free themselves with the use of a motorcar because it enables an escape from the “pensive
immobility” the Futurists believed plagued Western Civilization.12
The European artists and thinkers who belonged to the futurists and those who subscribed
to their beliefs subsequently were fundamental in establishing many of the myths and lore that
reign over automotive culture to this day. Early twentieth century modes of thinking may no
longer exist in their original context, but the auto industry’s global reach helped keep original
ideas of independence, speed, and escape alive and also helped spread these ideas from Europe
to the United States. The lust for power and speed still dominates the market in the United States
among a significant demographic of automobiles’ owners. The advent of Tesla’s popularity
represents a modern transmission of these ideas in the present. A manufacturer or all electric cars
based in California, Tesla sells the Model S, its top of the line flagship, with an optional
“Ludicrous Speed,” package, enabling a sprint to 60 miles per hour in 2.8 seconds. This makes
the P90D the first sedan to ever accomplish such a feat.13 On the massive screen that dominates
Marinetti, F.T. “The Founding and Manifesto of Futurism,” translated by R.W. Flint (Thames and Hudson Ltd;
London, 1973).
12
Ibid.
13
Sherman, Don. 2015 Tesla Model S P90D: The First Sub-3.0 Second Sedan We’ve Ever Tested. So That’s
Something.” Car and Driver, January 2016. http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/2015-tesla-model-s-p90d-testreview.
11
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the dashboard, a visual based on the warp drive sequence from Star Wars (stars outside the
spaceship are stationary and then blur into lines because of the spaceship’s speed) accompany the
theatrics of the launch, demonstrating that the sensation artists painted at the start of the
twentieth century is still something for which drivers and passengers yearn.14 This harkens back
to the early years of the intersection of art and motoring and provides an example of the way
European modes of thinking about the car remain relevant in modern American culture. Artists
focused on the way objects changed as they appeared to approach the subject in the car, and this
has again been implemented in the form of warp-drive graphics on the Tesla’s seventeen inch
displays. According Sara Danius, author of argues that Henri Matisse’s Le Pare-brise: Sure la
route de Villacoublay captures the multiplicity of views and brings to life “the affinity between
modern technologies of speed and the emergence of new ways of seeing,” in the same way that
Marcel Proust described “the automobile ride, the excitement of speed, and the dazzling views
through the windshields is a brilliant example of precisely the kind of modernist aesthetic.”15
Tesla’s vehicles are a modern incarnation of these ideas, and the reception reviewers and
consumers provides an example of the ways traditional methods of thinking about the car are
alive in the twenty-first century.
Early twentieth century artists strongly emphasized the automobiles ability to grant a
change in perspective. Before Fernand Léger began producing highly structured paintings in
reaction to the destruction of World War I, he wrote in an essay in 1914 and argued that “When
one crosses a landscape by automobile or express train, it becomes fragmented; it loses
descriptive value but gains in synthetic value” and the “view through the door of the railroad car
or the automobile windshield, in combination with the speed, has altered the habitual look of
14
15
Danius, “The Aesthetics of the Windshield: Proust and the Modernist Rhetoric of Speed,” 113.
Ibid, 105.
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things.”16 This suggests that the allure of motoring may in fact originate from the appeal of the
act itself based on the premise of speed and escape from outdated modes of seeing the world. It
incorporates entities that play on these seemingly innate desires to have access to freedom and
individuality that many humans crave.
As enticing as these values may appear, access to the car was limited before they were
mass manufactured because cost of production was very high. Artists who had access to the
motorcar were from a privileged group, but their communication of their experiences helped
promote the idea that cars were more than tools or toys that promoted the image of privilege.
They argued that they brought people closer to the ideals for which they strove. Bentley’s
advertisement for its 1935 drop-head exemplifies the premise of this analysis. It portrays the car
as the intersection of practicality and frivolity. Its luxury may be excessive, but Bentley
ownership promises freedom and release from the constraints of urban society by presenting the
opportunity for travel to the countryside. Through the influence of the wealthy, artists, and
advertisers, the automobile accrued an image that was associated with freedom and escape and
enhanced its desirability among all classes.
These ideals continued to fester as a result of their proponents, and World War II’s
conclusion ushered in a time when motoring had become deeply entrenched in American culture.
The automotive community began taking design and modification into their own hands. One
example of a vehicle that had undergone such a process are two 1939 Mercury Convertible
Coupe, as seen at the Peterson Auto Museum. This model was notable for its affordable price of
$1000 in the year it was sold, which is the equivalent of $16,900 today, just under the starting
Léger, Fernand. “Contemporary Achievements in Painting,” Functions of Painting, ed. Edward F. Fry, trans.
Alexendra Anderson (New York: Viking, 1973), 11, quoted in Danius, Sara, “The Aesthetics of the Windshield:
Proust and the Modernist Rhetoric of Speed,” Modernism/Modernity, Vol. 8, No. 1 (2001), 119.
16
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price for the most basic 2016 Ford Focus.17 A factory fresh version of the car featured a 3.9 L
Flathead V8 capable of producing 95 horsepower and could attain a top speed of 95 miles per
hour. However, the Peterson also showcased an example of the car that was modified by a
previous owner. The owner lowered the suspension for better handling and they also massaged
the engine for higher output, increasing power to 130 horsepower and increasing the top speed to
100 miles per hour. This demonstrates that individuals have long taken an interest in the
aesthetics and performance of the vehicles they drive and adjusted them based on personal taste.
The tuners’ yearning for higher performance harkens back to Proust and Matisse’s experience in
early motorcars, where the surrounding landscape appeared to rush toward the driver or
passenger. By modifying their vehicles, owners of cars like the 1939 Mercury Convertible Coupe
were able to pursue the ideals presented by advertisements such as Bentley’s 1935 piece and
come closer to the intangible goals of freedom and escape. Tuning remains popular among the
global automotive community, as seen by events such as Hot August Nights or the Wörthersee
Volkswagen enthusiast gathering, and these two Mercuries demonstrate continuity in the way
that automobiles have been perceived by the public and people modify the cars they drive to
improve their status within their own community and those they encounter in their social and
professional lives.1819 During World War II these vehicles represent the desire to achieve the
social status of the middle class which had established a solid presence due to the military
industrial complex. As Ladd writes in Autophobia, “After the deprivation and immobility
enforced by depression and war, car-centered recreation…returned with a vengeance.”20 Two
and a half consecutive decades of austerity caused a yearning for the roots of automotive culture
17
Peterson Automotive Museum. History/Industry/Artistry: The Peterson Automotive Museum.
Hot August Nights. https://hotaugustnights.net/, 2016.
19
Wörthersee Treffen. http://woertherseetreffen.at/#fwdmspPlayer0?catid=0&trackid=0, 2015.
20
Ladd. Autophobia, 43-44.
18
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that epitomized freedom though the control of a motor vehicle. Its return to prominence in postwar society demonstrates that individuals on many levels of the socio-economic spectrum could
purchase and own vehicles that could grant access to the upper echelons of the freedom offered
by the automobile.21 Ladd argues that “A car was, apart from a house, the largest item in
consumers’ budgets. It was their badge of prosperity, their most cherished possession, and the
means to fulfill such other desires as outings and vacations.”22 By commercializing the car in
such a way that granted more of American society access to the open road, the Big Three were
able to capitalize on an even greater portion of the population.23 The automobile had finally
secured a lasting place among the mass consumer culture of the postwar middle class.
In the period following World War II, automotive design was married with the idealistic
standards to which consumers held motoring. Designers in Detroit strove “to express glamour,
power, and freedom—impossible design objectives during the war” in the automobiles they
penned.24 With the influx of wealth that resulted from the wartime economy, a more ornamental
approach was taken, and chrome accents, open greenhouses, and fins became staples in Detroit’s
design language. In this period, automobiles were designed with more organic shapes in mind,
and influential designers like General Motors’ Harley Earl used curves modeled after those seen
on a woman’s body.25 This directly relates to the Futurists who portrayed masculinity as the
epitome of human existence and regulated femininity to reproduction, which “OWE
HUMANITY SOME HEREOS, NOW MAKE THEM!”26 The Futurists saw women as a source
of reproduction, but masculinity as a sexuality that demonstrated power and strength. The
21
Ibid.
Ibid, 44.
23
Ibid.
24
Armi, C. Edson. The Art of American Car Design. United States: The Pennsylvania State University (1988), 7.
25
Ibid, 18.
26
Saint-Pointe, “Manifesto of the Futurist Woman: Response to F.T. Marinetti”
22
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automobile was analogous for these associations with the male gender; it was seen as individual
and strong, all traits the automobile also represented in artists’ mind. In this way, the role of the
automobile was reinforced as being a supplement to the strength, beauty, and individuality the
Futurists valued as being at the heart of masculinity. The role of the automobile in the United
States followed this model; it served as an instrument that provided practical transportation for
an individual and his family, as seen in an advertisement such one for the 1955 Studebaker
station wagon.ii The wagon was equipped with the option of one of “two great engines… a V-8
or a 6!” This gave drivers the ability to both cater to the needs of their family in addition to
harness the power necessary to attain speed the Futurists could not have imagined in the early
twentieth century while simultaneously securing their masculinity. Vehicles such as the SUV or
crossover have carried the idea of freedom and convenience into the twenty-first century, while
still maintaining the status masculinity boosting vehicles granted in the mid-century period. Cars
grant greater access without requiring an individual to rely upon a public transportation system, a
reason for why many Angelinos may see the automobile as a necessity. It is individualized and
personalized transportation. Sitting in traffic may not convey the same sense of power and speed
that the Futurists experienced when they drove early automobiles for the first time, but the car
still grants drivers the power to choose their destination and travel there on their own accord,
independent of timetables. The development of the freeway system during the duration of the
twentieth century reflects drivers’ desires to have both the freedom the automobile provides and
the practicality of induvial transportation.
Chapter 2: Highway Development in the Golden Age of American Cars
In the post-World War II era, articles from the Los Angeles Times expressed a great deal
of optimism regarding modifications to the road system in the city that reflected the increase in
Rehbock 12
demand for automobiles. The additional strain on the existing infrastructure pushed the city to
sign the Collier Burns Highway Act of 1947, which added 67 miles of city streets to the state
highway system, added taxes, and reconfigured the administration for increased efficiency. The
ambitious nature of this legislation can be seen in the juxtaposition of a map of Los Angeles in
1944 and a 1947 projection of the freeway system in 1949.iii iv The project road system very
closely resembles the current highway infrastructure, and was a dramatic evolution from the
freeway system that existed at the end of World War II. The Los Angeles Times covered the
effects of this transition in 1949 in an article, and determined the additions were a success.27
They measured that a total of 86,127 vehicles traveling over the newly added roads over a period
of 24 hours, demonstrating how absolutely necessary these additions were to the infrastructural
system.28 According to Cortelyou’s article in the Los Angeles Times, bridge building was also a
tremendous part of the urban planning that occurred in this period, and reorganization of the
freeway systems was being done to accommodate the increased traffic flow.29 Expensive projects
such as these accelerated as the 1950s began, with plans for the Santa Monica freeway toward
Lincoln being pushed at the conclusion of the decade. The Los Angeles Times presented freeway
development in the 1950s and 1960s in an extremely optimistic light of planning and expanding
Los Angles in articles such as these, maintaining and stimulating the opinion of the public with
their articles. It is doubtful that the ideas of philosophers and artists who wrestled with the
automobile and modernity at the start of the century still had sway with Cold War consumers,
but the sentiment of their ideas carried forward into popularly read periodicals that drummed up
support for the expansion of the freeway system. Individuality and freedom are the center of
Cortelyou, Spencer V. “By the Sea, Over Mountains, Through the City – New Roads. Los Angeles Times (1923Current File), January 3, 1949. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Los Angeles Times.
28
Ibid.
29
Ibid.
27
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these articles, and are reflected in the promises to reduce congestion and offer better connections
between areas in the city.
In the late 1960s and 1970s, administrative focus shifted from freeway development to
maintaining and modifying the existing infrastructure. The initial building process cost the city
and state vast sums of money, and once Los Angeles’ capacity for freeway was met, the existing
roads then required state resources to maintain. Beautification processes were announced as early
as 1969, and stress was placed on “[making new routes] compatible with the communities they
serve.”30 A 1969 Los Angeles Times article expressed excitement over “big improvements” for
the freeway system in the valley in the ‘70s.” The article asserts that its “development and
improvement” was to be funded with “millions of dollars” in gas tax funds.”31 Articles such as
this maintain a blind optimism that projects such as the ones planned for the Simi, Foothill and
Golden State Freeways by commenting that “motorists already are travelling” on newly added
segments.32 The Los Angeles Times presented additions such as these as solutions to the problem
of congestion as though they would be permanent solutions, even though they were only
temporary fixes that had the possibility of failing in the event of population growth or
infrastructural degradation. The temptation of a return to “the emptier highways of the 1940s,” a
period for which Americans are perpetually nostalgic as Ladd describes in his book, remained a
highly influential factor in garnering public support for new freeway projects, especially because
they married the ideas of freedom and everyday livability.
Hebert, Ray. “State Tries to Improve Freeways’ Appearance: Planners Stress Ideas That Make New Routes
Compatible With Communities They Serve.” Los Angeles Times (1923-Current File); May 26, 1969; ProQuest
Historical Newspapers: Los Angeles Times pg. B1.
31
Kennedy, Howard. “Valley Freeways Assigned Big Improvements in ‘70s: First Priority to Simi, Foothill and
Golden State.” Los Angeles Times (1923-Current File); November 27, 1969; ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Los
Angeles Times pg. SF1.
32
Ibid.
30
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Even during the period between World War II and during which oil was still extremely
affordable, articles of contradictory degrees of optimism were published, confirming the public’s
insistence on using their own cars to commute rather than to subscribe to a socialized system of
public transportation. In this case, socialized describes a system where commuters pay the
government to provide the trains, buses, and necessary infrastructure to move people around the
city. This contrasts to transit via automobile, which is a highly individualized form of
transportation in which everyone commutes in a privately owned vehicle. A 1969 article titled
“Engineers Wrestle Again with Santa Barbara Freeway Plan” demonstrates the difficulty that
accompanies the process of accommodating a freeway within previously established districts, in
this case U.S. 101. The article cites concerns from Santa Barbarans who at the time were
“fearing an elevated road would create a wall between the downtown and beach areas” and
favored a depressed highway.33 This demonstrates that people want freeways to work with the
lifestyles they have developed over the course of the car ownership, but in some cases, as this
article mentions, the interests of the public conflict with what the engineers deem to be the most
efficient and sustainable designs. A quotation from then Mayor Gerald S. Firestone denotes this
as “the most controversial issue [Santa Barbara] ever had,” giving further indication as to how
important motoring convenience is to Southern Californians, and how individuals yearn for the
convenience that allows them to live their lives regardless of the needs of other communities.34
The article also conveys how problematic planning new routes or making additions to the road
can be because of the uncertainty that accompanies both making alterations to traffic flow and
also factoring in the way nature interacts with the infrastructural system. Car travel appears to be
Overaker, Ken. “Engineers Wrestle Again with Santa Barbara Freeway Plan.” Los Angeles Times (1923-Current
File); September 29, 1969; ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Los Angeles Times pg. A1.
34
Ibid.
33
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free while public transportation infrastructure is costly and requires the implementation of
intricate infrastructure, but herein lies deeper socioeconomic problems for vast portions of the
urban community. As long as projects such as these do not occur in the purview of the upperclasses, they are not problematic. As seen in Santa Barbara in the above article, on the other
hand, the privileged have the capability of utilizing their power and wealth to foist undesirable
projects on lower-income communities. This reveals the nature of how transportation
infrastructure disproportionately affects communities of disparate class and race, and calls into
question for whom the American Dream of liberty and progress belongs.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Chamber of Commerce placed
the extension of its own freeway system as a top priority in the same year Santa Barbara was
wrestling with the modification of the 101. The article cites two primary reasons for why such an
addition was marked as a matter of high precedence. As with many of the other infrastructural
modifications that were planned during this period, “a heavy flow of traffic has been established”
in a particular portion of the road network, in this case “Brea Canyon and down State College
Blvd.” specifically.35 The existing infrastructure’s inability to support the quantity of vehicles on
the road is a repeated trend, and the solution of adding more road to the infrastructure is one that
has been repeated historically.
This can be explained by the second reason the Los Angeles Times provided in this 1969
article: according to John Haskell, a member of the chamber’s Highway and Transportation
Committee, people want “a freeway, once started, constructed to a meaningful system to allow
people to get from one place to another.”36 This point serves as a reminder that the automobile is
“Orange Freeway Tops Chamber Priority List: County Group to Give Recommendations to Board of Supervisors
After 12-Month Study.” Los Angeles Times (1923-Current File); August 10, 1969; ProQuest Historical Newspapers:
Los Angeles Times pg. OC16.
36
Ibid.
35
Rehbock 16
actually a practical implement for transportation, and people do want functional and efficient
road systems for utilitarian purposes. Despite this complication, it aligns with Americans’
overarching desire to have the assurance of freedom to go where they please at a moment’s
notice. The importance of the freeway system is a vital component of the American persona, and
when new road systems fail to deliver on that promise, that veneer collapses. Haskell’s
commentary within the article demonstrates the dualistic draw of Los Angeles’ infrastructural
system, which promises both freedom and convenience. In his responses to the Los Angeles
Times’ interview questions, he asserts that the Southern California freeway projects will offer
solutions to longstanding problems. For example, Haskell is also quoted as saying “The Orange
Freeway will offer relief to the heavily traveled roads in the north part of the county,” as though
the solutions the chamber intends to implement will solve the greater issue that lies within the
system itself.37 It isolates the contradictory nature of the public’s desires and the infeasibility of
the system, which has never delivered on its promised intent.
The freeway construction boom caught up with city authorities by the late 1960s as they
began to realize that as the intricate and complex road systems aged, they would be very
expensive to maintain. Given that freeways serve as symbols of individuality and the freedom to
be mobile, a crumbling infrastructural system undermines that logic and causes people to be
dissatisfied. To mitigate this satisfaction, California began a project to improve freeways’
appearances. However, Ray Hebert of the Los Angeles Times acknowledged in his article “State
Tries to Improve Freeways’ Appearance” that “Angry and impatient motorists stalled in a long
line of traffic won’t be impressed but drivers who enjoy a well-designed interchange or a
sculpted freeway column might notice the changes.”38 This supposition of the way motorists may
37
38
Ibid.
Hebert, “State Tires to Improve Freeways’ Appearance…,” 1969.
Rehbock 17
actually perceive the planned alterations is quite accurate, as drivers in the twenty-first century
primarily pay attention to the quantity of vehicles on the road and the amount of time in traffic
rather than the design of interchanges or overpasses.
Hebert’s article is critical of the broken nature of the system as it stood in the late 1960s,
and remarks that Los Angeles was “already criss-crossed by the world’s heaviest concentration
of freeways, the region has been warned it may become a ‘concrete jungle.’”39 This concern is
quite relieving because the notion of a city-scape marred with grey buildings, roads, and
structures is the antithesis of the open-road sensation that a freeway is meant to evoke within
drivers. The plans for beautification of the freeway system were meant to alleviate this concern,
with engineers arguing that each piece of the infrastructure are individual ‘showpieces’ that will
be used “so people will ‘see and believe when [engineers] tell them a freeway does not have to
be a blight on the community.” 40 This tension between those designing the infrastructure and
those actually driving on the state’s highway system on a daily basis represents the juxtaposition
of what freeways represent to Americans and how they work in practice.
Hebert also points out that communities view the insertion of freeways in their region to
be an invasion and a violation, which demonstrates another difference in the theory and practice
of road networks. There is a disconnection between the way the freeway is perceived by the
public and the way it responds to actual implementation. In theory, freeways grant mobility the
ability to travel uninhibited by socialistic timetables and schedules but the fact is that they create
unnatural divides within single regions in a city, and cause a separation in the congruence of
communities. Affluent locales may have the power to combat the state and prevent roadwork
from infringing on their regions, as evinced by Hebert’s conclusion that “bitter freeway battles
39
40
Ibid.
Ibid.
Rehbock 18
have left their scars on many cities and communities,” but wealthy regions such as “Beverly
Hills and Newport Beach” were able to successfully keep routes out after fighting against
planned projects for their regions.41 Hebert’s article reveals that socioeconomics and race are
important factors in shaping infrastructure systems because they have the power and wealth to
influence the government in such a way that the noisy, dirty, unhealthy and undesirable swaths
of freeway are a comfortable distance from their homes. In Los Angeles today, communities of
color live in the areas with the densest amount of freeways, such as the primarily Latino region
within Boyle Heights that is enclosed by the 110, 101, 10, and 5.42 Overall, the inevitable
degeneration of the infrastructure system undermined the sense of universal freedom and
progress conveyed in articles that announced the plans of their creation. Instead, they insinuate
that the freedom of the wealthy and privileged comes at the expense of the quality of life for the
working classes and communities of color.
Chapter 3: Into the Malaise
In the late 1970s, frustration with the system increased but due to inflation and the
increased cost of roadbuilding the cost of fixing the problems of the past was simply too high to
make the necessary changes. By 1979, newspapers such as the Los Angeles Times began to
express remorse over the overdevelopment of the freeway system, and the errors within the
existing system could “be corrected only at costs 10 times or more greater [sic] than the price
tags when the system was put together in the late 1950s and 1960s.43 By the end of the 1970s,
Caltrans learned that many of the promises offered by a freeway system did not hold up in a city
with a population as large as Los Angeles. This was partially true because of the dangerous
41
Ibid.
“Boyle Heights.” Los Angeles Times. http://maps.latimes.com/neighborhoods/neighborhood/boyle-heights/. 2016.
43
Smollar, David. “You Can’t Get There From Here: Caltrans Stuck With Freeway Mistakes of Past.” Los Angeles
Times (1923-Current File); October 14, 1979; ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Los Angeles Times pg. SD_A1.
42
Rehbock 19
layouts from earlier decades. Old designs, such as “on- and off-ramps from a freeway’s inside
lanes,” popular in the 1950s, were prohibited in this decade because of the tremendously high
death rate they caused.44 Rather than forsaking a system that has not been able to maintain pace
with the rate of population growth, Caltrans continued to study existing routes to find new ways
of streamlining travel on those channels. This is one instance where alternative means of
transportation was truly considered by the newer generation of engineers to lighten the burden on
the road system. However there was still internal resistance within the state to make these
concessions. David Smollar remarks in his 1979 article “You Can’t Get There From Here” that
“many old-time engineers still have a difficult time adjusting to Caltrans subsidizing trains or
publishing bicycle route maps.”45 The world where the enticing prospect of a fast and efficient
freeway system was still a reality for these veteran engineers, and despite their scientific
background, their bias potentially stymied some progress. The region of Watts is a prime
example of an isolated zone where a community of color is ostracized as a result of their
ethnicity. It has historically been treated worse than other areas of the city, and Robert Mayer’s
Los Angeles: a chronological & documentary history, 1542-1976 reveals the nature of these
racial tensions, even if the author had no intension of doing so. This 1978 text describes the start
the Watts Riots as follows, “Racial violence broke out in Watts after a White policeman arrested
a Black driver for drunken driving. Blacks claimed this was an act of racism and rioting
ensued.”46 The instigating event of one of the most violent and trying times from LA’s past is not
only another example of the ways racism is manifest within the road system, via toxic
relationships between officers and people of color, but the location of Watts and the adjacent
44
Ibid.
Ibid.
46
Mayer, Robert. Los Angeles: a chronological & documentary history, 1542-1976. (Oceana Publications, Dobbs
Ferry; New York, 1978).
45
Rehbock 20
freeways are demonstrative of the racialization of infrastructural planning in LA. A map of the
Los Angeles freeway system from 1979 reveals that Watts has long been the subject to the
whims of the city’s urban planners, and was initially hemmed in by the 11 and 91, major routes,
until more recently the 110 and 105 encroach on the region’s limits.v 47 From historical and
contemporary accounts and maps, evidence can be drawn to suggest that race has a large factor
in determining the placement of new freeways, and oftentimes communities of color must suffer
the consequences of having major routes intersect with their locales. This is another example of
the way that the freedom and convenience initially offered by the highway system does not reach
all members of the city; deeper issues of race and class influence government decision-making in
this regard.
Despite the increased anxiety over freeway design among the public and those
responsible for upkeep and further planning, continued interest in automotive culture indicates
that concern for the car’s role did not override popular interest, particularly among more
privileged cultural groups. The 1979 Los Angeles Times report of the 29th Pebble Beach
Concours d’Elegance indicates that the infatuation with the automobile remained strong even as
gasoline prices were at all-time high.48 Tia Gindick writes:
“Forget the gas shortage, high prices, long waits, odd-even days and the prospect that you
might not even be able to get home. Most visitors to Monterey on the weekend were
people paying tribute where automobile design was as important a function as when
people took pride in craftsmanship as well as ownership.”49
“Watts.” Los Angeles Times. http://maps.latimes.com/neighborhoods/neighborhood/watts/, 2016.
Gindick, Tia. “Bentley vs. Rolls in Classic Weekend: ‘Understated Elegance.’ Los Angeles Times (1923-Current
File); August 21, 1979; ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Los Angeles Times pg. F1.
49
Ibid.
47
48
Rehbock 21
This remark represents that society has not given up on the way the automobile was originally
intended to be used, for open-road motoring. In fact, Gindick romanticizes prewar automotive
culture, most likely as a result of the austerity that accompanied the malaise of this period. Due
to the nature of the Councours, the article focuses on the wealthy owners of very expensive
classics and the rivalry that exists between the two groups. While it is amusing to read these
narrative accounts, it also provides evidence of how alive car culture remained among this elite
group and foreshadows its continued popularity today.
The article reveals that popular race car culture among sports car enthusiasts was also
alive and well at the time. The article, as it did with its recounting of British luxury, discusses the
pride of owners and the deep engagement of enthusiasts in great detail, even naming the owners
of notable vehicles that appeared. This serves to reinforce the theme of escape that surrounds
Gindick’s article; the 29th Concourse was a place where the troubles of the end of the decade
could be forgotten and the glorious chrome past of motoring be celebrated. Even Canary Row,
home to some of Monterey’s most prestigious establishments, was loaded with “low riders
looking like something out of Star Wars, oldies but goodies, replicas of oldies but goodies, new
designs like the Hispano-Suiza and Duesenberg.”50 This represents a conglomeration of cultures
from every corner of the automotive world. One central idea brings these groups together more
than anything else, freedom. The cars featured at shows such as the Concours d’Elegance are
outmoded in terms of their safety and technology, and can no longer serve as practical tools for
transportation. As such only the wealthy can afford to own and properly maintain what are
essentially historical artifacts. However, the model for high-luxury shows is repeated and
reenacted across the automotive community, which grants expanded access to the sense of
50
Ibid.
Rehbock 22
freedom and escape as depicted in Gindick’s writing. The article conveys a sense of nostalgia
that results from entering a world separate from “the gas lines and the rush home,” which serves
as the great equalizer among all classes.51 It illuminates one of the driving reasons why cars are
sought after with such demand, because they represent the possibility to both portray who a
person is as an individual, and also give them the capability to travel wherever. Regardless of
what the reality of motoring is, the idealism this article captures a core element of why car
ownership of all kinds is so pervasive.
Despite the idealism that persists alongside automobile ownership, drivers are also
becoming increasingly aware of the realities of climate change and urban congestion. In more
recent stages of Los Angeles’ development, for example, the additions of freeways ran counter to
the interests of existing residents and also environmentalists who did not want their communities
to change because of invasive freeways or the environmental damage inflicted by increased
quantities of drivers.52 Research from the 1980s shows concern over gains in solo commuters,
with a gain in 22 million such drivers from 1980 to 1990. Infrastructure spending was also at a
lull in this period according to a different report, with spending at less than half as in the mid1960s.53
Sandra Drinning’s The Living City, is a mural originally painted in 1991 on 124 North
Western Avenue between 1st St. and Beverly Blvd. It portrays Los Angeles as a city of diverse
communities connected with a looping and swirling freeway system.vi The mass of roads that
dominate the image serve to separate the featured communities as much as they connects them,
51
Ibid.
Ray, Nancy. Inland-Coast Freeway Plan Moves Onto the Fast Track: But residents of housing developments and
environmentalists are already raising objecting to east-west Route 56. Los Angeles Times (1923-Current File);
December 2, 1989; ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Los Angeles Times pg. B1B.
53
Marshall, P.G. “Transportation: America’s ‘quiet crisis.’” Editorial Research Reports 1989, Vol. 2 Washington,
DC: CQ Press. Retrieved from http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre1989081100.
52
Rehbock 23
underscoring the contradictory nature of the promises and results of LA’s freeway system. It also
conveys the oppressive nature of the road network on low-income or colored communities within
the city. Beverley Hills and Hollywood dominate the left side of the canvas, and is largely
isolated from the winding mass of grey road. Though the mural’s title suggests that the piece is
celebratory of LA’s multiplicity of cultures and its ever-changing nature, it still reveals the
reality that highway infrastructure is as divisive as it is connective, especially because the
wealthy have the power to isolate themselves and push away urban intrusions they deem
undesirable. The freedom offered by high capacity road systems does have bias, and Drinning’s
work offers greater insight as to how this plays out in Los Angeles’ urban landscape.
Chapter 4: Self-Driving Cars Driven by the Self-Driven vs. Public Transportation for All
The Department of Transportation made attempts to promote public transportation in Los
Angeles but technological innovations in automotive design make the car as popular as ever, as
many of these developments serve to maintain the freedom of individualized transportation in
cars. Paradigm shifting automakers such as Tesla do not invoke excitement in the media solely
for their advancements in electric drive technology, but also for pushing the boundaries of
vehicular autonomy. Tesla is not alone in this endeavor; other automakers have been using lane
guidance and safety assistance technology for some time, but Tesla is pushing the boundaries
further with the degree of autonomy its vehicles afford. The seemingly instant positive reception
to self-driving cars is due in large part to frustration with gridlock; computers should be able to
figure out traffic better than mere humans and restore the rapidity the highway system
supposedly used to offer. This would maintain the independence and freedom the automobile
supposedly offers in a world with an ever-grow population an increasingly dense populations. In
Rehbock 24
“Traffic Congestion,” Charles S. Clark quotes Cheryl Collier, formerly the research director of
Commuter Transportation Services in Los Angeles:
““In L.A., driving is cheap,” Collier says. “There are no tolls, and 93 percent of the
people get free parking. We're building a subway, but lots of areas are not serviced due to
the city's sprawl. And for buses to work, we'd need fewer transfers and more express
buses.” L.A.'s reputation as a car-loving city is also a product of culture.”54
Though this article is from 1994, the point remains that there is little incentive for anyone to
travel using anything other than a car. Servicing the entire city with public transportation may
always be an ongoing process, but at the same time driving remains relatively consistent and
reliable. This is another reason why the prospect of autonomous vehicles remains so appealing;
the only sacrifice they require is the loss of command of the steering wheel and pedals, but the
styling and individuality of the car remain part of the experience. In its earliest stages, however,
autonomous driving will likely be an added feature to the existing architecture of the vehicle.
Top Gear magazine published a story in April 2016 detailing the results of the tests and
reviews its journalists ran on the Tesla Model S P90D, the range-topping version of its flagship,
and the BMW 730d, a tech-laden version of its top-of-the-range model with the diesel engine
drivers in Britain would likely purchase. The test and review are mismatched in terms of the
vehicles’ prices and their place within each brand’s hierarchy, but both featured the premier
technology suites necessary to grant maximum hands free driving. Ollie Marriage, the article’s
author, expresses the revelatory nature of Tesla’s autonomous drive systems in the opening lines:
“Fourteen miles without touching the steering wheel or a pedal. Watching the car steer its
way down the road is strange. I hover my hands, but the Tesla seems content getting on
Clark, Charles. “Traffic Congestion: Can America win the battle against gridlock?” CQ Researcher; 4, 6 May,
1994; http://library.cqpress.com/.
54
Rehbock 25
with things itself. It maintains gaps, waits for slower-moving cars to pull over before
accelerating, and generally drives with better discipline than anything else on the road.”55
The stress on the fourteen miles of hands-free travel is indicative of the way that the Tesla still
grants the sense of open-road motoring drivers crave, but without requiring the driver to keep
their hands and feet busy with steering or even throttle modulation. In a sense, the autonomous
features of this specific model delivers an even more liberating experience than a conventional
grand tourer because it demands so little from the driver. Diehard enthusiasts may be bothered by
this because they yearn for the engagement of traditional steering, speeding, and even shifting
gears themselves in fossil fueled cars, but others may find the absence of responsibility to be
liberating. As Marriage writes in the article, “Everything is automatic, making the Tesla
blissfully simple to operate: you get in, the electrics are already up and running, you slot it into
gear and away you go.”56 While Top Gear is based out of the United Kingdom, this article
suggests that there might be a new global definition for what is classified as freedom and escape.
Rather than emphasizing the driver’s ability to grab hold of their destiny via an immensely
controllable and powerful vehicle, this article praises the Model S for enabling the driver to let
go. Even though this suggests a modification of the vision of freedom as seen by the Futurists,
freedom and practicality are at the heart of the desirability of the autonomous car.
Discounting the self-driving element of their vehicles, the products from Tesla that are on
sale adapt to the current global climate. Their massive popularity and the perfect reviews they
received from respected publications such as Consumer Reports.57 The initial response from
Marriage, Ollie. “Hands free: Tesla Model S P90D vs BMW 730Ld.” Top Gear. http://www.topgear.com/carnews/future-tech/hands-free-tesla-model-s-p90d-vs-bmw-730ld#1
56
Ibid.
57
Rechtin, Mark. “Tesla Model S P85D Earns Top Road Test Score,” Consumer Reports, last modified October 20,
2015, http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/cars/tesla-model-s-p85d-earns-top-road-test-score.
55
Rehbock 26
testers was strong, they were impressed with the Model S’ “instant acceleration” and driving
dynamics coupled with “practicality and luxury, resulting in a more than perfect score of 103 that
caused Consumer Reports to modify its entire rating system.58 In the film accompanying the
online article, Jake Fisher, their Auto Test Director, claims that it is the “best car that Consumer
Reports has ever tested,” especially emphasizing that it is a “fully electric car” that is a “glimpse
into the future of the automotive industry.”59 Additionally, it is “faster and more efficient” which
is “unheard of for a high performance model from a typical car company.”60
The Model S P85D appeared to be the automotive Holy Grail, offering everything
without compromise, aside from price. The excitement expressed over these vehicles in news
and review outlets such as Consumer Reports and Top Gear parallels that of the Los Angeles
Times regarding new freeway infrastructure. As argued above, the optimism associated with
emptier roads and freer flowing traffic that supposedly accompanies added freeways is merely a
Band-Aid incapable of solving a much greater problem. Tesla’s cars are very similar in nature
because they still occupy space on the road and contribute to all of the problems associated with
automotive travel that commuters criticize. Tesla largely cashes in on its promises to synthesize
an electric drive train with a familiar driving experience, the integration of electric and hydrogen
powered vehicles into the existing fossil fuel infrastructure has long been problematic. Even the
progress toward full autonomy suggests that these technologies are just reiterations of an existing
system that has largely failed. Just because some people will not have to use a steering wheel to
transport themselves does not mean that traffic problems will be solved. However the necessity
58
Ibid.
Ibid.
60
Ibid.
59
Rehbock 27
for individual transportation coupled with the ideas of individual freedom help maintain the
allure of the car.
Los Angeles Metro is utilizing a new campaign, marked by the slogan “Metro Eases
Traffic,” to appeal to commuters’ desires for a public transportation system that reduces
congestion and allows for efficient commuting along any channel. One such advertisement
features a bus among traffic, and is captioned with “We move 1.4 million riders a day.”vii
However, as much as it is an advertisement for the public transportation system, it also calls out
to drivers in order to remind them how many people it keeps off the road, greatly decreasing the
amount of traffic they must cope with during their daily commutes. In this way, Metro positions
itself as an ally of the driver and the bus rider alike, also calling out to young people with its
fresh graphic design approach while simultaneously calling upon older ideas about motoring. In
this way, Metro also applies a modernist aesthetic to its campaign, where just as early adapters of
the automobile such as Proust valued the automobiles’ ability to grant additional perspective by
blurring the surroundings, so too does Metro by positioning the bus so that it appears as though it
is breaking away from the billboard. Additionally, the central positioning of the bus also appeals
to the sense of individuality that Angelinos crave with automotive transportation, and as such
this campaign represents an effort to translate that to a more socialized form of mobilization.
Another ad from the same campaign claims “We’re tackling bottlenecks.”viii The image
features a highway with an overpass, but rather than showing bumper to bumper traffic, there is
ample space between the cars, buses, and trucks on the road. Again, this advertisement appeals to
drivers’ individualism and yearning for freedom while on the road. It emphasizes Metro’s role in
reducing congestion for the sake of enabling additionally mobility for drivers. While this
billboard offers an aerial perspective that greatly differs from the aforementioned advertisement,
Rehbock 28
the presence of a bus, located directly under the word “eases,” is meant to demonstrate that the
public transportation system is in place to liberate highways for the convenience of drivers,
implying that some other group of people will have to commute for this purpose. Just as the
residents of Beverly Hills and other high income areas were able to resist the intrusion of
freeways into their communities, so too does the LA Metro advertising suggest that the city’s
more privileged citizens will not have to change their habits because the public transportation
system is getting the “other” people off the road, in this case that means relegating them to a
system that does not work at optimal efficiency. As a result, this campaign’s intent becomes
unclear; Metro seems to be advertising use of roads for privileged drivers and does little to
dissuade them from driving. Perhaps the clearest intent of the advertising is to appeal to young
people and to let them know that they have options for transit in LA, especially given the
billboard’s vibrant colors, the minimalism, and the cheeky slogans. If this is the case, Metro is
making progress by creating an image for a new generation of commuters by stressing that any
avenue they choose will get them where they are going reliably and efficiently, calling upon the
liberty and individuality Angelinos seek. Only time will tell if these promises will be fulfilled.
Conclusion
My research indicates that the automobile has carried with it the image of being a tool to
grant freedom and give drivers the convenience for which they strive. While was only a toy and
tool of the wealthy in its infancy, the car is now a necessity in Los Angeles. This is harmful to
the quality of living of the socioeconomically disadvantaged and many communities of color, not
only because they must pay for expensive automobile ownership and maintenance, but the
highway system also makes life hell for many in the City of Angels. Freeways are theoretically
free to use with ownership of a car, but members of racially and socioeconomically marginalized
Rehbock 29
pay a disproportionately large price for a system that fails to offer the benefits it promises. The
popular interest in alternative fuel vehicles such as Tesla’s and the increasing acceptance of
future autonomous vehicles demonstrate that the public is not willing to commit to changing
their lifestyle in any meaningful capacity, choosing instead to participate in an oppressive model
of mass mobilization. Los Angeles is clinging to a system that is unsustainable, and as its
population continues to grow in the twenty-first century, it must implement a public
transportation infrastructure that favors the working classes and offers everyone in the city the
opportunity to have the freedom and independence of mobility.
Rehbock 30
Works Cited
Primary Sources
Automobile Club of Southern California. Los Angeles Freeway System. Peterson Auto Museum,
1979. Print Map.
Automobile Club of Southern California. Metropolitan Los Angeles: Proposed Parkway System
1949, 1947. Print Map.
Bentley. “The 3½ Litre Bentley Drop-Head Coupe.” The Motor. 10 December, 1935. Print
advertisement.
Clark, Charles. “Traffic Congestion: Can America win the battle against gridlock?” CQ
Researcher; 4, 6 May, 1994; http://library.cqpress.com/.
Cortelyou, Spencer V. “By the Sea, Over Mountains, Through the City – New Roads. Los
Angeles Times (1923- Current File), January 3, 1949. ProQuest Historical Newspapers:
Los Angeles Times.
Drinning, Sandra. The Living City. Peterson Auto Museum, 1991. Mural.
Gindick, Tia. “Bentley vs. Rolls in Classic Weekend: ‘Understated Elegance.’ Los Angeles Times
(1923-Current File); August 21, 1979; ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Los Angeles
Times pg. F1.
Gindick, Tia. “Bentley vs. Rolls in Classic Weekend: ‘Understated Elegance.’ Los Angeles Times
(1923-Current File); August 21, 1979; ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Los Angeles
Times pg. F1.
Hebert, Ray. “State Tries to Improve Freeways’ Appearance: Planners Stress Ideas That Make
Rehbock 31
i
Bentley. “The 3½ Litre Bentley Drop-Head Coupe.” The Motor. 10 December, 1935. Print advertisement.
Studebaker Division of Studebaker-Packard Corporation. “America’s ‘best deal’ in an all around family car!”
1955. Print Advertisement.
ii
iii
“Los Angeles and Vicinity,” 1944. Print Map.
Rehbock 32
iv
Automobile Club of Southern California. Metropolitan Los Angeles: Proposed Parkway System 1949, 1947. Print
Map.
Rehbock 33
v
Automobile Club of Southern California. Los Angeles Freeway System. Peterson Auto Museum, 1979. Print Map.
vi
Drinning, Sandra. The Living City. Peterson Auto Museum, 1991. Mural.
Rehbock 34
vii
Los Angeles Metro. Metro Eases Traffic: We move 1.4 million riders a day. Metro. https://www.metro.net/, 2016.
Billboard.
Los Angeles Metro. Metro Eases Traffic: We’re tackling bottlenecks. Metro. https://www.metro.net/, 2016.
Billboard.
viii
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